Kim Kardashian’s W Cover Is Very Naked, Very Deep

Stefano Tonchi‘s November issue of W magazine is complete and on its way to newsstands near you and boy, are you in for a treat. Kim Kardashian covers the issue with an incredibly provocative and titillating image: the reality television mega star naked, with her lady parts covered by a bright red tagline by artist Barbara Kruger. It reads, “It’s all about me / I mean you / I mean me.”

We’ll let that sink in for a bit because it’s — in a word — awesome.

Kruger is known for her visceral (and obviously visual) commentary on feminism and consumerism. It’s worth noting that she often pulled the images for her work from mainstream fashion magazines. How very meta. (One of her more well known pieces can be seen in the third image in the gallery.)

Lynn Hirschberg’s cover story on Kardashian hasn’t been posted yet, but we suspect it’ll be a doozy. (You may remember Hirschberg from the infamous M.I.A. / truffle fry brouhaha.)

But even more titillating than the cover (and cover story potential), are the alleged shoot outtakes Egotastic and Celebuzz have posted. The images feature Kardashian in the full-blown buff, covered with silver paint up to her neck. We’ve published them in the gallery below (images 4 and 5). Needless to say, they’re not safe for work.

We’d be surprised if photographer Mark Seliger shot the images with the intent of publishing as is in W — and, if anything, suspect they were taken as potential covers (since her lady parts would eventually be covered by the text banners.)

All in all, Tonchi is certainly making a statement with this issue — and it appears to be very in line with everything he’s said about his plans for the glossy. He told WWD back in August:

It’s more about fashion in the context of contemporary culture, and that’s really the definition that I like to use. At the end, everything we look at is in the key of style, and that’s why I defined the content of the magazine as the who, the what, the where, the when, the why in the world of style.

Kim Kardashian, if undoubtedly a controversial “celeb”, certainly makes for what could be some very interesting, insightful, and intelligent commentary about contemporary culture. Kudos, Tonchi.